Real Stats in NRL v ARU propaganda wars

[MoffOnTou]

Now, for some real figures out of the Telegraph today:

The NRL sells 70m worth of merchandise per year vs 30m from the ARU

150,000 NRL Jerseys are sold each year compared to rugbys 40,000

Peter Wynn sells 20 league jerseys for every one union jersey

Nowwwww, perhaps News got wind of our protests from the article out of last week...wouldn't surprise!

Cheers for that Adam Hawse

That was in direct reply to an article last week that inferred that union jerseys were outselling league ones

Pfft!

Cheers,
Moffo

 

[dr nick]

Originally posted by MoffOnTou
Now, for some real figures out of the Telegraph today:

The NRL sells 70m worth of merchandise per year vs 30m from the ARU

150,000 NRL Jerseys are sold each year compared to rugbys 40,000

Peter Wynn sells 20 league jerseys for every one union jersey

Nowwwww, perhaps News got wind of our protests from the article out of last week...wouldn't surprise!

Cheers for that Adam Hawse

That was in direct reply to an article last week that inferred that union jerseys were outselling league ones

Pfft!

Cheers,
Moffo

did anyone ever doubt that fact? (who wrote that article saying union jerseys sold more.... )

i actually thought the gap between the two was a lot wider.

in reference to peter wynn's... not surprising really seeing they specialise in rugby league jerseys. those who would be looking for union jerseys would head to a "canterbury" store, not peter wynns.


i also notice league do not include schoolboys in their junior numbers

 

[Ms.Storm]

Moff

That was terrible bias reporting wasn't it.....and what a co-incident with the RWC just around the corner.

Another important factor that has not been mentioned, is the fact that NRL clubs sell their own jersey's as well....(I presume....as I am using the example of Storm selling many of their jerseys).

Having said all that, I really do believe that the Union jerseys are a little more tasteful than the rugby league jerseys.....but they have improved immensely I must say.......(except the Canberra Raiders one at Morwell......no more said, but what a horrible mess they are ....... only my opinion, of course)!

 

[I_LUV_AFL]

I am not sure how true it is but it was also stated in several media outlets that AFL and union also included participants in clinics for their respective codes which I believe is true as that is what rugby league is now doing with David Gallop saying "we will mirror the counting system used by rugby union and AFL". So much for union increasing 42% in the playing numbers over the last 5 years as there would complete 500% more clinics now then they used to. I always thought that their figures were wrong as I don't know of many country union teams and there are plenty of CRL teams. That makes sense of it all now.

 

[dr nick]

im not sure how it is worked out, but in ancrease of 42% for union is alarming whether it includes increases in clinics or not.

and a dare say that if league were to include clinics, their percentages would be worse. would i be wrong to assume there are less league clinics scattered over NSW than there were 10 years ago? My cousin who lives in orange recently had his club go bust, partly due to the lack of funding and the witdrawal of the little league comp and junior clinics out there.

 

[Richoagain]

I've never understood the way rugby league works in the country of NSW - it's always looked really small scale. In country Victoria every town with more than a few hundred people has an aussie rules club, generally fielding firsts, reserves and colts.

And then there are places in NSW (not talking places in NSW where AFL is the main game, such as Wagga, Broken Hill or the Southern Riverina) where there are aussie rules clubs, but not league clubs, but league if you ask anyone is the more popular game - Merimbula and Pambula have only one CRL team between them - yet they have three aussie rules clubs in the Sapphire Coast AFL.

Does everyone else just play for pub teams?

 

[Richoagain]

Bombala has a union club (the mighty Blue Tongues), but not a league club.

It's probably an exception - but anyway.

 

[Richoagain]

The other thing to remember is that the bigger you get, the tougher it is to get large percentage increases - when you're a small sport getting a 40% participation increase is easy.

For demonstration's sake, if union started with 50,000 players and league with 100,000 and they both got 20,000 new players in a year, that's....

40% increase for union, but only a 20% increase for league.

 

[dr nick]

"fastest growing sport" is a positive spin for "smallest"

 

[Ms.Storm]

Richo

All this *League vs. Union* stuff going around now is only to divert interest to Union and get some Leaguies over to watch the RWC as I honestly think many like both codes, but some are too scared to say so

 

[I_LUV_AFL]

Originally posted by Richoagain
Bombala has a union club (the mighty Blue Tongues), but not a league club.

It's probably an exception - but anyway.

Bombala does have a League team, my cousin played for them before moving to Coffs. There competition has also grown this year from 4 teams to 9 so there is growth. The ARL Foundation is doing hundreds of clinics per week and rugby league's players numbers will be ridiculously high from the next poll. It should just be registered players from the weekend which is what League what previously doing and they still had 20,000 more.

The ARU are pumping millions into the Coast yet they are getting no response as everyone is very much pro-League and that is even with the admin problems we have had. I used to work with the Foundation and we would have visited over 40 schools and 1,000 kids easily.

 

[syphon]

Originally posted by Tutaki

The ARU are pumping millions into the Coast yet they are getting no response as everyone is very much pro-League

thats what the crowds at north power for league games would suggest

 

[Richoagain]

I seem to remember seeing somewhere that union had actually been overtaken by aussie rules on the Central Coast as third biggest junior footy code, behind league and soccer.

Looking from afar.... Does union carry a bit of baggage in the 'I don't want to play that snobby private school crap game' stakes in Sydney which gets in the way of development?

For the record, I don't mind union and wouldn't mind seeing a little more down here in Melbourne (a super 12s side would be nice!) I've heard the VRU mumble about the possibilities before...

 

[Richoagain]

Ah, just found Bombala's league club in group 16.

How does this group system work?

 

[Brian]

You guys who follow solely RL get so worked up .Some journo twit tries to use some statistics to proove some irrelevant point and you take the bait .It's a joke that doesn't need attending .When I lived in Sydney I walked down to Coogee and there was Ranwick RU playing with the Ellas (I'm old) in front on 400 people tops,on an open ground ,with some bench seating and the tiniest stand I've ever seen .Most of Australia's team were in Ranwick then,yet nobody could be bothered to watch them .Anybody will buy the G+G jersey because it's the patriotic thing to do .It looks good and you can wear it anywhere to support Oz.It doesn't mean one is a 100% RU man .

 

[Ms.Storm]

Brian

Originally posted by Brian
You guys who follow solely RL get so worked up .Some journo twit tries to use some statistics to proove some irrelevant point and you take the bait .It's a joke that doesn't need attending .When I lived in Sydney I walked down to Coogee and there was Ranwick RU playing with the Ellas (I'm old) in front on 400 people tops,on an open ground ,with some bench seating and the tiniest stand I've ever seen .Most of Australia's team were in Ranwick then,yet nobody could be bothered to watch them .Anybody will buy the G+G jersey because it's the patriotic thing to do .It looks good and you can wear it anywhere to support Oz.It doesn't mean one is a 100% RU man .

But being worked up is great for rugby league as many afl people say rugby leaguies show no passion

However, I think what you say is right about purchasing a Wallabies jersey and perhaps many wearing same, follow rugby league as well and probably much prefer that code, but still like to support Aust. in Union.

 

[Ms.Storm]

Syphon

Originally posted by syphon
thats what the crowds at north power for league games would suggest

Wonder what you know about the recent Northern Eagles debacle? or even rugby league for that matter!

 

[Ms.Storm]

Richo

Originally posted by Richoagain
I seem to remember seeing somewhere that union had actually been overtaken by aussie rules on the Central Coast as third biggest junior footy code, behind league and soccer.

========================
I think that's good, because I would dearly love the rugby codes, especially league, to be really strong in NSW and all over Australia, as a matter of fact because I tire all the rubbish here in Melbourne where the media keeps telling us that afl is taking over every other football code.
=========================
Looking from afar.... Does union carry a bit of baggage in the 'I don't want to play that snobby private school crap game' stakes in Sydney which gets in the way of development?
=========================

Yes I think you have hit the nail on the head here.
=========================
For the record, I don't mind union and wouldn't mind seeing a little more down here in Melbourne (a super 12s side would be nice!) I've heard the VRU mumble about the possibilities before...
=========================

I like Union too and would love to see a Super 12s side here in Melbourne, but not to the detriment of the Storm and rugby league which is very much No.1 with me.
I actually think the next Super 12's team will be based in Perth, but I also think that Melb. could support all footy codes here comfortably, as compared to WA. (I just wish the NRL would get off its backside a bit and develop the game more)



[/B]

 

[MoffOnTou]

Re: Syphon

Originally posted by Ms.Storm
Wonder what you know about the recent Northern Eagles debacle? or even rugby league for that matter!

Well actually, no one wanted to watch a Manly team play out of Gosford. Manly are the most unpopular team on the coast, of course it wasn't going to work

But just for Syphons information, the recent TRIAL game between Souths and Wests got over 10,000. So people do attend games up there

Cheers,
Moffo

 

[Richoagain]

Uh, Ms Storm, re read what I wrote

 

[Richoagain]

Dunno if a super 12s side would affect the Storm that much, if anything it would probably help a little, with people drifting to NRL after the super 12s is finished.

And anyway if Mr Complacent Gallop is right, as soon as they saw examples of both they'd flock to league....

(Sorry to stir).

 

[dr nick]

Re: Brian

Originally posted by Ms.Storm
But being worked up is great for rugby league as many afl people say rugby leaguies show no passion

oh yeah, lets show some passion to impress the AFL guys
you're better than that ms storm. follow your own code, who gives a rats what some moron who doesnt have a clue what the difference between union and league is. you dont have to impress them.

BTW.... i'm now back after mysteriously being booted for two days *cough cough.... ahem*

 

[Brian]

Nicko you're the the moron for not reading the posts properly and extrappilating bizarre conclusions .A lot of people are wasting a lot of energy on this RU thing . I don't SOLEY follow RL because I originally played Rules and RU . However I was best at RL and there are games to play and there are games to watch . Maybe too many people in Sydney are wasting energy attacking AFL ?
Maybe this is distracting RL from expanding ?

 

[dr nick]

it would help brian if you could read my post properly and undertand what i was on about.

my point was (and i dont know why you are taking it to heart) is that there are a lot of league fans who put too much validity on the opinions of those who dont follow the game. this is as you say, probably a reason the league is not going as forward as it should be. we are always looking over our shoulder and nipping at other sports instead of getting our own show in order.

i for one am not wasting any energy on this RU v RL article, and why should i. if the RU sells x amount of jerseys good on them. IMO the NRL (and their journos) are far too concerned with bashing rugby union (ray hadlee and peter frilingos and co. make some of the most baseless statements youve ever heard, and in my opinion, we should be looking for ways to improve league rather than worry about union)

 

[St. Tuttler]

Originally posted by nicko18

i for one am not wasting any energy on this RU v RL article, and why should i. if the RU sells x amount of jerseys good on them. IMO the NRL (and their journos) are far too concerned with bashing rugby union (ray hadlee and peter frilingos and co. make some of the most baseless statements youve ever heard, and in my opinion, we should be looking for ways to improve league rather than worry about union)

I think we should be looking for ways to improve league, but we also should be looking at union as well, seeing what they are doing in terms of junior development, marketing etc. Afterall they are our main competitors and all companies keep a close watch on their rivals.

But yes some of the articles and opinion columns such as this mornings Mike Gibsons column are, I think not needed. Basically Gibson gloated at how league had local appeal, personalities and how your club gave you a sense of identity etc etc, Which is all good but then he attacked union on how they did not have those qualities in their game, which I think the article could of done without and should have purely focused on the positives of rugby league.

In saying that though, I hate rugby union with a passion and I hope it dies a quick death.